


Two-Faced

by dreamsofspike



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-02
Updated: 2010-08-02
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:06:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/104847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsofspike/pseuds/dreamsofspike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam goes home with Kris for a week, and is getting along great with Kris's friends - or so he thinks, until Kris has to leave him alone with them... and their true feelings come out in a terrifying way. Adam's courage and Kris's loyalties are tested in the wake of a horrible incident that leaves both confused and shaken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNINGS: violence, non-con (no actual sex, just touching, but still totally non-consensual), humiliation

“So, you getting bored here in little old Conway, yet?”

“Nah. It’s nice to get away for a change.”

Adam exchanged a brief, knowing glance with Kris, but laughed off Cale’s remark, relaxing against the oversized sofa in the refinished basement of the Allen home, inexplicably sandwiched between Charles and John as they played a rather intense hunting game of some kind on Kris’s Playstation. He wasn’t quite sure how this particular seating arrangement had come about – with him crowded onto the sofa with Kris’s friends, and Kris halfway across the room in the armchair that matched the sofa – but he didn’t exactly mind.

When Kris had asked him to come and visit him in Conway for a week or so following his first nationwide tour, Adam had been hesitant. He had heard some horror stories from friends of his who had grown up in the south, and wasn’t sure that he would be accepted in the place that Kris called home – no matter how kind and accepting Kris was himself.

However, much to Adam’s surprise and relief, Kris’s friends had been surprisingly warm and welcoming to him.

“Besides, what are you talking about? There’s plenty to do around here,” Adam continued, giving Kris a sly wink. “Wandering aimlessly around Wal-mart for a few hours… let’s see…” Adam counted off on his fingers, pretending to think about the options as he came up with them, “… cow-tipping, of course… that’s a classic… and you know, sitting around people’s basements playing video games until you get carpal tunnel syndrome. There’s always that.”

Adam’s playful tone and laughing eyes eased any sting that might have been in his teasing words, and Kris’s friends laughed. John elbowed Adam lightly in the ribs without ever looking away from his game, smirking as he replied.

“Yeah. _That’s_ how I got it. That’s what I tell my mom, anyway.”

Surprised by his quick wit, Adam laughed aloud, and was swiftly joined by the others, hooting and adding their own off-color remarks to John’s little joke.

“Yeah, well, we’ve gotta have _some_ form of entertainment, don’t we?” Cale grinned from his own chair across from Kris. “We can’t all have big time recording contracts like you, can we, Adam?”

“We can’t all have big _voices_ like you…” There was admiration in John’s voice, though he still didn’t take his eyes from his game. “Man, that’s unreal. How’d you learn to hit those notes?”

Adam felt a warm blush creep over his face – but it was not an unpleasant feeling that caused it. He couldn’t quite suppress a smile at the praise, and he shrugged a little self-consciously, glancing instinctively toward Kris, who was smiling at him with affectionate pride. Adam quickly looked away, swallowing hard as he glanced around at the others and desperately hoped that they were too stereotypically male to notice the obvious signs of the crush that he _so sucked_ at hiding.

“It’s, uh… not really something you learn…”

“It’s something you’re born with, we know,” Cale sighed, rolling his eyes over-dramatically. “If you’re _you_, that is. Not if you’re me, that’s for sure.”

“Kris? Can you come up for a second?”

Kim Allen’s voice drifted down the stairs, and Kris dragged himself out of the puffy chair that had half-swallowed him, making his way toward the circular stairs that led up to the rest of the house – but going out of his way to walk behind the sofa and give Adam a light, affectionate push on the back of his head. Adam pushed back instinctively, and Kris gave him a grin before disappearing up the stairs.

“Eh, I’m sick of losing,” Charles sighed, tossing the controls unexpectedly into Adam’s lap. “You wanna get beat next?”

“Who says I’ll get beat?” Adam countered, picking up the controls.

Charles was dubious, a single brow raised. “You ever played before?”

“Um… not… _this_ game…”

Charles barked out a laugh as he leaned back in his seat. “Right. Have fun losing.”

“Hey, guys?” Kris appeared halfway down the stairs, leaning down so that he could see his friends. “Mom needs me to run to the store right quick. Anybody wanna come with?” He paused a second, adding casually, “Adam?”

Adam knew that Kris was trying to be considerate of him, giving him an out if he felt uncomfortable being with Kris’s friends, without him – but he was actually feeling very comfortable, and didn’t want Kris to feel like he had to spend Adam’s entire visit entertaining him.

_Kris could probably do with some Adam-free time at the moment. He’s been with me non-stop for four days, and he could probably use some space…_

“No, I think I’ll stay here and show these guys how this game is played.”

Kris’s friends laughed in surprised amusement, and Kris smiled, clearly pleased at how comfortable Adam seemed to be with them.

“Now… _what’s_ the point of this game again…?”

Adam heard Kris stifle a laugh as his footsteps faded away up the stairs again.

“Shoot things,” Charles offered helpfully.

“Any… _specific_ things?”

“Any animal that happens to cross the screen is fair game,” John explained.

“The bigger ones are worth more points…”

“Seems kinda… pointlessly violent,” Adam observed with a smirk as he took a very poorly aimed shot at a cute little bunny that had just happened to cross the screen.

“Well, _duh_,” Charles scoffed. “It’s _hunting_.”

“I don’t know much about hunting,” Adam pointed out – completely unnecessarily.

"That's... not exactly a surprise,” Cale dryly replied, and the others laughed.

Under normal circumstances Adam would have been offended by that reaction, but these guys didn’t seem to mean any harm. They were typical southern “good old boys” who probably had no idea what small things might be offensive, and they’d been so nice to him so far. He decided to let it slide and focus on winning the game and proving their stereotypes wrong.

Not that he actually had much chance of winning, he ruefully admitted to himself.

“So… how long have you had a thing for Kris?”

Adam let out a strangled little squeaking sound, firing a virtual shot directly into a tree on the screen that was nowhere near the deer he’d been aiming for. He turned wide eyes toward John, who wasn’t even looking at him – but his face bore the faint traces of a smirk as he waited for Adam’s response.

“Oh, I get it!” Adam retorted with a strained little laugh. “You’re trying to distract me to be sure I lose! Well, it’s not going to work…”

“Please,” John scoffed. “Like I need to distract you, I’m kicking your ass, Rainbow Brite.”

Okay… Adam was pretty sure that that last comment was _definitely_ meant to be offensive.

“So…” Adam flinched slightly as he felt Charles’ hand come to rest high on his leg, squeezing slightly, his voice suddenly shifting to take on a low, suggestive tone. “Is it just _Kris_ you’ve got a thing for, or any cock in the room will do?”

“What the _hell_…?”

Adam's stomach lurched, and he dropped the video game controller, jerking away from Charles’s touch and starting to stand up, indignant – but Charles’s other hand gripped his shoulder and pushed him back hard against the sofa, pinning him there and refusing to let him up. As Adam’s mind raced with confusion, trying to catch up with what was happening, John put down his own game controller, ignoring the timer on the screen counting down to his losing, as he turned to face Adam with a smile that was suddenly cruel and predatory.

“Where you going?” he asked in a voice that was somehow gentle and taunting at the same time. “I thought we were having fun.”

“This isn’t funny.” Adam tried to sound severe and warning, but the tremor in his voice gave him away. “Stop it…”

“_’This isn’t funny_’,” Charles mimicked in a high, mocking voice, his hand sliding inward from Adam’s thigh. “_’Stop it_’!” His voice returned to its normal timbre as he smirked at John and observed coldly, “Whiny little fag sounds like a whiny little _girl_. Are you really a _girl_, Adam? Is that it? Is that why you like cock so much?”

Anger filled Adam at the unwarranted verbal attack, and his fist clenched as he raised it to strike. His mind hadn’t quite processed what was happening yet – how he’d gone from hanging out with Kris’s kind, accepting friends to being under attack by a gang of hateful bullies – but his body went into action as he drew his fist back to punch Charles and knock him away. His efforts were thwarted when from behind the couch, someone grabbed his wrist and drew his arm up over his head. Adam’s heart raced with panic as he tried to free his arm, and only succeeded in getting the other one pinned to the back of the couch behind his head as well.

“Let _go_ of me!” Adam demanded, his stomach lurching with the first stirrings of real fear when he realized that he couldn’t break the grip that restrained him. “What is _wrong _with you guys? What are you _doing_?”

“Relax, Adam…” Cale’s voice was soft as he leaned over him with a casually cruel grin, bearing down on Adam’s wrists with enough strength to keep him restrained. “Trust me. There’s nothing you’ve got that we want.”

“Unless of course you really _are_ a little bitch under there,” John clarified. “You know, the way you dress – it _is_ a little confusing.”

Charles nodded in agreement. “Hard to tell. Why don’t we just check?”

“_No_!” Adam cried out, struggling uselessly, overwhelmed with panic. “Get _off _me!”

“Easy…” Cale’s voice was unsettlingly soft as he kept holding Adam’s wrists down with one hand, reaching his other hand around to clamp firmly over Adam’s mouth and hold his head back. “Shhh, we’re not gonna hurt ya…”

“Yeah… just wanna see what all the fuss is about,” John sneered, and Charles laughed.

A moment later, Adam felt a large, strong hand squeeze his cock through his jeans, and let out a stifled moan of pain and outrage, trying again to free himself.  Charles – he knew it was Charles, even though Cale wasn’t letting him look down – squeezed harder, and the pain was a clear warning. Adam’s face flushed with shame, and he went very still, closing his eyes to shut out the cruel violation that couldn’t be happening – _could not be happening_…

_These guys are Kris’s friends… I thought they were_ my _friends… they wouldn’t… wouldn’t… why are they _doing _this?_

“_Feels_ like a dick.” Charles’s voice was filled with false surprise, and jarringly casual – as if he was discussing some random thing he’d just seen on television, instead of in the process of committing a sexual assault.

“Yeah, how many dicks have you _felt_, man?” John taunted his friend.

“Shut up, asshole,” Charles shot back, but he was grinning. “Let’s see if it lives up to the hype…”

“Dude…” John’s voice took on a note of horror and awe. “… it’s probably like… _pierced_ and shit… you know how freaky fags are…”

“Yeah,” Cale agreed. “What are you whimpering about, Adam? This should be _tame_ for you!”

Adam went rigid when he felt his zipper being pulled down – and then began to fight again in earnest, kicking out with his legs and struggling to free himself. He pulled his mouth away slightly from Cale’s hand – just enough to manage to bite down on the side of his palm.

“_Shit_!”

Cale hissed, pulling his hand back for a moment and shaking it in pain. Adam tried to use the opportunity to pull his hands free, but John quickly reached up and gripped his wrists, allowing Cale to back away and inspect his injury. Adam was gratified to taste blood in his mouth, and know that he had at least managed to do a little damage. An instant later, however, Cale had returned, covering Adam’s mouth again and pinning his head firmly down against the back of the sofa. His eyes blazed with fury as he leaned in close, his voice soft and measured

“That was a stupid move, faggot.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before Charles drove a fist hard into Adam’s groin, and the searing pain nearly made him black out. Adam went momentarily limp in the grasp of his tormentors, breathing in deep shaky breaths through his nose as a muffled cry escaped his lips.

“Yeah,” John laughed, and Adam could barely make out his words past the ringing in his ears. “He’s a dude, all right!”

“Let’s make sure,” Charles insisted.

Adam kept his eyes closed, trembling but not daring to fight anymore as Charles unfastened the front of his jeans and took out his limp, throbbing cock.

“Aw, it’s not pierced or nothin’.” John sounded disappointed.

“It’s… not really all that impressive. All that fan crap online is all over _this_? Wow, haven’t you got _them_ all fooled, Adam!” Cale sneered.

Adam’s eyes burned, and he tried to fight back the tears that pressed against his eyelids, but a few managed to squeeze past despite his efforts. He shook his head slowly – all the plea he was allowed to offer with his voice denied to him – but his captors only laughed.

“Aww,” Charles sneered, leaning in close to his face. “Little faggot’s gonna cry, now? Come on, Adam, it’s no big deal. We just wanted to see for ourselves. Everybody does it – comparing in the locker room and all. If anything, we thought you’d like it more than anyone.”

Adam’s tears flowed harder as he tried to withdraw as much as possible into the couch, his stomach lurching treacherously, his heart racing with his panicked, desperate thoughts.

_Please, someone come down here and stop them… please,_ Kris… _Kris, please come back!_


	2. Chapter 2

“Come on, Adam.” Cale rolled his eyes, jerking Adam’s head back to meet his eyes with a sly smile. “I’ve seen you on stage. Seems to me you’re usually more than happy to shove your pitiful excuse for a cock in some poor, unsuspecting dude’s face. What? It’s not as much fun when they know it’s coming?”

Adam shook his head, closing his eyes as he felt Charles’s hand wrap around his exposed cock again – only this time, thankfully, Charles put it back into his pants, zipping them up before giving Adam’s hip a light smack.

“See? No harm done. Nothing to cry about.”

“Unless you’re a little pussy faggot,” John added with a sneer.

Adam flinched as he felt a firm hand cup his abused genitals again, squeezing lightly. Panic began to close in again as he felt all three guys pressing in nearer to him, hemming him in so that there was no chance of escape. Cale crouched behind him so that his mouth was level with Adam’s ear before speaking in a hushed voice barely over a whisper.

“Now… if I let you up… you’re not gonna start screaming, are you, Adam?”

“’Cause you know… if you did, you’d only be screaming for a second before you wouldn’t be able to make a sound,” Charles added, and Adam’s breath hitched with fear as the hand on his crotch tightened to just the wrong side of painful. “You’d be hurtin’ too bad.”

“So it’s just best for everybody if you just keep quiet, right?” Cale concluded with a leading nod that Adam felt more than saw, out of the corner of his eye.

Adam nodded in return, feeling sick with shame for going along with them, but painfully aware of the extreme disadvantage at which they had him. If they wanted to, they could do a serious amount of damage before he could alert anyone to his situation.

“It’s not like anyone would hear you, anyway,” Charles pointed out. “This basement isn’t soundproof, but it’s damn well close, with that door up there shut. It’s solid, and they set up this room so Kris and us could get as rowdy as we want without keeping the rest of the house awake all night. Two seconds of you hollering for help wouldn’t get past the stairs, Adam.”

“So all you’d accomplish,” Cale finished, his voice lowering to a frightening whisper, his breath hot and damp against Adam’s skin, “would be to royally _piss… us… off_.”

“But he’s not gonna do that,” John guessed, a smug smirk on his lips. “Are you, Adam? You know better…”

Adam shook his head, tensing but keeping perfectly still as Cale cautiously raised his hand from Adam’s mouth, though keeping it near enough to quickly stifle any sound he might try to make. Charles reached up with one enormous hand to grasp Adam’s wrists and pull them down in front of him, allowing Adam to sit up straight again on the couch, but still restraining him. Adam swallowed, struggling to moisten his dry, aching throat as he raised his head, unable to make eye contact with any of his tormentors. His face burned with shame, his eyes scratchy with tears, as he shook his head slowly and whispered a single, despairing word.

“_Why_?”

A moment’s silence passed, and none of the boys offered a laugh or a mocking response. For once, they seemed to be taking something about this entire nightmare of their own creation seriously – and Adam wasn’t sure whether to find that comforting or frightening. Finally, Cale broke the silence, his voice low and toxic with his resentment.

“Because, Adam… you might have _Kris_ fooled… because he’s just too good a guy to see the bad in someone else, even when it’s being thrown in his face every single night… but _we_… we see right through you, Adam. We know what you’re trying to do, and the last thing Kris’s career needs is a big, gay scandal. But maybe you already know that, huh? Maybe you think you should have won American Idol? Maybe you think you still can?”

“No,” Adam objected, a dull, tight ache in his chest at the pain caused by their words. “No… Kris is my _friend_…”

“Maybe,” Charles conceded. “Kris is friends with a lot of people who don’t deserve it.” He leaned in close, and Adam flinched from the malice in his words as he added, “But he doesn’t _need_ friends like _you_.”

“Yeah?” Adam’s voice was hoarse and shaky, his eyes blazing with repressed fury as he stared down at the floor between John and Charles. “Well… if he knew what _you_ were really like…”

Adam’s words broke off abruptly and he flinched, bracing himself for a blow as John drew back his fist, prepared to backhand him. Before the blow could fall, however, Charles caught the smaller man’s wrist and held it back, shaking his head.

“Not in the face,” he quietly warned his friend.

Adam’s voice was defiant though it was shaking, and his eyes glittered with unshed tears. “No,” he softly taunted them, “wouldn’t want anyone to _see_ what kind of… of psychotic _freaks_ you really…”

The breath was driven from his body as John’s fist was redirected to connect with his stomach instead of his face, and Adam doubled over in pain, gasping for breath. John grabbed a handful of his hair, yanking his head back up and snarling in his face.

“_You’re_ the freak, Adam. A disgusting, perverted freak – and you think you can just come in here and act like you’re one of us?” He let out a contemptuous scoffing sound, yanking harder on Adam’s hair until he had to bite back a cry of pain. “_Please_. Think again.”

“You know, I don’t think he’s learned his lesson yet,” Charles observed, and though his voice was calm, Adam could clearly see the smoldering resentment and anger in his eyes. “He still seems a little… _cocky_…”

The others snickered at his little joke, and John added under his breath, “Not _that_ ‘cocky’ – not as much as advertised, anyway.” He leaned in close with a satisfied smirk, eyebrows raised as if daring Adam to challenge his assessment.

Adam promptly spit in his face.

Outraged, John let out a cry of disgust, swiping at his face with his hands as he backed off of the couch and onto his feet, amidst the shocked laughter of his friends. John didn’t find anything amusing about the situation at all. He grabbed Adam’s hair again and yanked him forward off the couch and onto his knees. Charles still had a grip on Adam’s wrists, and used it to help John maneuver him before jerking his arms behind his back and holding them crossed there.

“I’ll teach you, you stupid fag!” John seethed, hands shaking with rage as he fumbled with his own belt buckle. “Maybe I can’t leave a mark on that pretty face of yours, but before I’m done, I’ll make sure you learn how to show a little respect for a _real_ man…”

“No!” Adam cried out, struggling to free himself. “Don’t you _fucking_ touch me!”

“Shut up!” Charles ordered, struggling to keep a strong grip on Adam’s arms behind his back with one arm while reaching to cover his mouth with the other.

“Oh, don’t worry,” John sneered. “I’m about to _shut_ him up!”

Adam’s heart sank as his struggles proved useless. He shook his head frantically, his pleading words muffled by Charles’s hand over his mouth.

John smirked as he took out his cock, already half-hard, and shook his head grimly. “Oh, _now_, you’re sorry. Too late, queer. It’s time you learned your…”

His words broke off abruptly at the sound of the door upstairs swinging open. Adam’s wide eyes darted toward the stairs with desperate hope, as Charles abruptly released him and John scrambled to refasten his clothes. Adam stumbled to his feet, backing away from the others, putting as much space as he could between himself and them, as Mrs. Allen slowly descended the stairs.

“Hey, boys, you hungry?” she offered with a smile when she was about halfway down. “I made some sandwiches, if you want some.”

“I want some,” Adam instantly replied, giving her a shaky smile, unable to hide the quaver in his voice. “Sounds great.”

His legs felt like jelly as he forced himself to move past the other three – now still and silent, no one moving to stop him – and gripped the banister with white knuckles, not feeling quite strong enough to make it up the stairs.

But he _did_ make it.

_They won’t try anything in front of her, they’ll have to leave me alone. I’ll be safe up there until Kris gets home. Oh, _God, _they would have… he almost…_ God…

Adam collapsed into the nearest kitchen chair, folding his arms on the table in front of him and resting his head in them, as a violent tremor passed through him – a delayed reaction to the panic he’d just experienced. He jumped, letting out a startled little cry when he felt a light touch against his shoulder – but looked up to see that it was just Kris’s mom, looking down at him with concern.

“You all right, sweetie?” she asked, her voice soft and lilting. “You don’t look like you’re feeling so good.”

“I… I’m okay…” Adam struggled to get the words out, forcing a weak smile. “I just… I’m… a little ill. Not used to… all this southern fried food, I guess…”

There was no way in the world that he would consider telling her the _truth_.

“Well, why don’t you go lie down on the couch, sweetheart?” Kim Allen offered, gently rubbing Adam’s shoulder in a casual gesture of affection that Adam was beginning to see was utterly natural for all of the Allen clan. “I’ll get you when Kris comes home, all right? Just go get some rest.”

Adam glanced anxiously toward the basement door, wondering what Kris’s friends were talking about, what they might be planning. They certainly hadn’t intended for their little game to end quite like it had. Adam turned his gaze in the other direction, toward the living room, directly off the kitchen. There was an open doorway with no door separating the two rooms; there was no way that anyone could do anything to him without Mrs. Allen seeing, if he was lying on the sofa.

_And… I just need to think… just need to… to figure out… what to do, what to… to_ say… _to Kris…_

_God, _Kris… _how am I going to tell him…?_

Am _I going to tell him?_

Adam’s thoughts broke off abruptly with rising panic when he suddenly heard the basement door open, and three casual, laughing voices that now sent a chill through his blood, calmly conversing with Mrs. Allen.

“Is Adam okay?” Cale asked, and Adam could tell that his mouth was full of food. “He left in a hurry.”

“He’s lying down in the living room,” Mrs. Allen informed him. “He’s not feeling well, poor darlin’…”

“Aww, that’s too bad…”

Adam got up from the couch and hurried toward the stairs leading up to Kris’s room. He’d been sleeping there for the last few nights while Kris took the guest room, because there was a lock on the bedroom door, and Kris had felt that he would appreciate the added privacy.

Now, that lock meant more than privacy; it meant safety.

Adam had nearly reached the stairs when Cale stepped in front of him, cutting him off with a cold smile. At almost the same moment, Adam felt Charles move in close behind him, grabbing one of his arms in each large hand and holding him back against his chest – not hard enough to be obvious if someone happened to walk into the room, but firmly enough to keep him from escaping. From the other room, Adam could hear John still talking to Mrs. Allen – keeping her distracted.

Adam opened his mouth to call out, terrified, but Cale leaned forward, putting a firm, steadying hand on his shoulder. “Shhh, easy, Adam… we’re done, okay? We’re done. We just… wanted to make sure you weren’t coming up here to run your mouth about it.”

Adam’s jaw worked with repressed fury as he tried to jerk one arm free from Charles’s grasp – to no avail. Charles just moved with him, casually, easily holding him in place. “You guys didn’t actually think I wouldn’t _say _anything?” he countered, incredulous – but for some reason he couldn’t quite explain, his voice was hushed and low, out of Mrs. Allen’s earshot. “Kris needs to know what kind of ignorant, two-faced _bastards_ he’s been calling his _friends_…!”

“Yeah,” Cale smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back, challenging. “And Kris will believe _you_… the dude he’s known for a couple years… over the boys he grew up with his entire life – his best friends in the _entire world_. Yeah, Adam.” He nodded, a falsely thoughtful frown creasing his brow. “I can see that working out real great for you.”

Adam fell silent, a sick seed of doubt creeping into his heart. He swallowed hard, trying to find the words to argue – and coming up blank.

Cale’s voice softened as he took a step closer to Adam. Adam instinctively tried to pull back, but Charles’s grip did not allow him any retreat.

“Kris trusts us, Adam. He knows, no matter what, we’ve always got his back. All three of our words against yours? He knows who to believe.” Cale stepped back again, raising his hands in a careless shrug. “But then – hey, go ahead. Tell him if you want. You’ll just get yourself kicked out of his house – out of this _town_ – all the faster, and trust me, that is _fine_ with us!”

Charles’s hands tightened on his arms, and Adam winced as the larger man leaned in to speak softly into his ear from behind him. “You were never wanted here in the first place.”

Adam flinched slightly, lowering his head and closing his eyes as Charles released him with a little shove, then passed him to follow Cale up the stairs. Feeling numb and confused, Adam made his way slowly back across the room to the sofa, sinking down onto it and wrapping his trembling arms protectively around his torso. He tried to tell himself that they were lying… were wrong… that Kris would believe him if he told him what had happened… but he couldn’t be sure, not only that Kris would believe him, but that he wanted to say anything in the first place.

He wasn’t really sure of _anything_ anymore.

His heart clenched with a fearful cold sensation as he heard the screen door swing open in the kitchen, and Kris’s cheerful voice entering the room.

“Hey, Mom.” The sound was clearly audible as Kris kissed his mother on the cheek. “Where’s Adam?”


	3. Chapter 3

Kris set the grocery bags he’d brought on the counter before leaning in to give his mother a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, Mom,” he said with a warm smile. “Where’s Adam?”

He frowned, puzzled, when his mother turned toward him with a troubled expression on her face. She beckoned with her hand, leading him off to the corner of the room. She glanced over her shoulder toward the living room before speaking in a hushed, secretive tone.

“I’m worried about him, Kris. He’s acting strangely.”

Kris shook his head, confused. “What do you mean, strangely?”

“Well, I went downstairs to offer the boys a snack, and… they were _all _acting a little strange, actually. Very quiet, like I’d interrupted something. Adam _said _he was hungry and came back up with me, but… but… then he didn’t eat anything. He said he wasn’t feeling well and went to lie down in the living room for a while.” She paused, hesitant, glancing toward the living room again before looking up at Kris with a worried expression. “But… Kris, I don’t know… he didn’t look _sick_ to me, so much as… as _scared_.”

Kris blinked, shaking his head, bewildered. “Scared? Of… of _what_?”

“He’s your friend, sweetie,” she pointed out with a little shrug. “Why don’t you go and talk to him?”

Kris walked into the living room, smiling with affection when he saw Adam lying stretched out on the sofa, his eyes closed. As he drew nearer, Kris’s smile faded when he realized that Adam was not really asleep, but pretending to be. He had slept in the same room with Adam enough nights to be able to tell the difference. A vague, troubled feeling began to form in the pit of Kris’s stomach as he sat down on the edge of the heavy marble coffee table across from the sofa and leaned over to touch Adam’s shoulder, gently shaking him.

“Hey, Adam… wake up, man…” Kris decided to allow Adam his ruse, for whatever reason he thought it was necessary. “Adam…”

Adam opened his eyes with obvious reluctance, a grimace twisting his mouth as he blinked sleepily up at Kris, and Kris had to fight to suppress his amusement at what Adam thought to be a convincing act. “Wh-what… what is it?”

“Are you okay?” Kris studied Adam’s face closely, noting how pale he looked, and the cold sweat that was visible across his brow. “Mom said you weren’t feeling well…”

“I… I’m not,” Adam agreed, his eyes averted, shifty, darting around the room. He seemed to want to focus on absolutely anything that was not Kris. “I just… I wanted to sleep, but… your friends are upstairs, and…”

Kris let out a dismissive little snort, rolling his eyes. “So kick ‘em out. It’s your room for the week.”

Adam glanced toward the stairs, a strange hesitation in his expression, and Kris realized that he was uncomfortable doing that.

_Of course he is. He owns any room he walks into, but he’s also got the best manners of anyone I know…_

“_I’ll_ kick ‘em out,” he amended. “Come on.”

Adam opened his mouth as if to protest, but Kris just grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet and toward the stairs.

They found Kris’s friends lounging around his room – as they often used to do, long before Idol, when waiting for him to come home from one summer job or another. Kris had grown up with these boys, and they were as close as family to him and his parents. Of course, Kris was aware that Adam did not have such a bond with them, and probably was not thrilled about the idea of their hanging out amongst his things, scattered around the room.

At least, that was the impression Kris got from the way Adam froze in the doorway, eyes wide and worried.

“Hey, Adam,” Cale greeted him with a casual nod and a grin from where he lay, propped up against the headboard on the unmade bed.

“Don’t worry, we weren’t like… goin’ through all your private stuff or nothin’.”

 John hurried to reassure Adam, but with a teasing wink and a smirk that suggested that he wanted Adam to think exactly the opposite of what he’d said was true. Kris smiled. He was used to these guys and their jokes, and knew that they were just trying to make Adam feel like one of the group.

Apparently, Adam did not understand that.

He didn’t say a word to the guys as he quickly strode past them into Kris’s bathroom, closing the door hard behind him. The click of the lock sliding into place was pointed and unmistakable in the surprised silence that followed.

“What’s _his_ deal?” Charles muttered irritably.

“Better watch it, Adam, or we’re gonna start thinking those diva rumors are _true_!” Cale called out, loudly enough for Adam to hear him through the door, and the other two burst into loud laughter in response to his words.

Kris just bit his lip with a little grimace. “Come on, guys, now’s not the time,” he told them, gesturing toward the door. “Adam’s not feeling well. He needs a little space right now, okay?”

“Sure, no problem.” Cale’s smile faded into a worried frown as he looked toward the bathroom door. “We didn’t realize.”

As he rose from the bed, the other two reluctantly headed toward the door as well. Cale stopped at the bathroom door, knocking softly and calling through the door, “Sorry, Adam. Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Hope you feel better.”

Adam did not respond. Something about Cale’s words – maybe the subtly belittling choice of “hurt your feelings” – bothered Kris, but Cale’s tone seemed genuine enough, and he really looked sorry. Kris let it slide, as his friends filed past into the hallway and then down the stairs. Kris hesitated, considering just going down with them, but then decided that he couldn’t just leave Adam on his own when he was obviously _not_ okay.

He went to the bathroom door and knocked softly. “Adam? They left. It’s just me.” He paused a moment before adding, “Are… are you okay?”

After a long moment of silence, Kris finally heard the turning of the lock, and then Adam opened the door – just a little at first, looking out and around the room as if to confirm that the others were really gone, before finally venturing out of the bathroom. He was visibly shaking, his eyes strangely wide in his alarmingly pale face.

“Adam!” Kris was really worried now. “What is it? What’s wrong? You don’t look so good…”

“I… just need to… to lie down,” Adam insisted, brushing off Kris’s attempt to help him as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “I’m okay. I just… just don’t feel well.”

Kris frowned. Adam still wouldn’t meet his eyes, and he was getting the distinct impression that this was more than just some kind of stomach bug. “Are you sure?”

Adam nodded, leaning back on the bed and closing his eyes – shutting Kris out.

“Okay,” Kris reluctantly sighed, heading toward the door. “I’ll just leave you to get some rest, then. But… I’ll be down in the basement with the guys if you need me, okay?”

“Okay.” Adam’s voice sounded strangely small and distant, and Kris hesitated, finding himself _really _not wanting to leave him – but having no choice. Adam had made his wishes clear. “Wait… Kris?”

Kris stopped in the doorway, turning toward Adam, who was lying on his side facing the door, propped on one elbow and looking up at him, biting the edge of his lower lip uncertainly. “Can you… lock the door?”

Kris was surprised – and a little unnerved – by the request. He had insisted that Adam use his room for that very reason – because he could lock the door and have a little extra privacy – but Adam had not once actually _used_ the lock since he’d been there. Questions filled Kris’s mind, but he didn’t voice any of them. He simply nodded, giving Adam what he hoped was a reassuring smile before reaching down to turn the lock.

“Sure. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks,” Adam whispered, sounding hoarse and exhausted as he lay his head on Kris’s pillow and closed his eyes again.

And against his wishes, and his better judgment, Kris left him alone and went down to the basement to join his friends.

***********************************

Adam couldn’t sleep – had in fact had no intention of sleeping when Kris had left his room.

He just needed a few minutes to _think_.

It all just felt like a horrible nightmare – something that he had dreamed, because it _couldn’t_ have really _happened_ – and then he’d seen them, there in the room that was temporarily his, sitting there casually amidst his things with their sly, secret looks that both taunted him with what they’d done, and warned him to silence – and suddenly, it was all utterly _real _– more real than he could stand.

_But it doesn’t sound like something that really happened._ With that thought came a sense of dread, an unquestionable certainty. _There is_ no way _that Kris will believe his_ friends _did something like that. How can I even tell him? How can I make myself_ say _what they… what they_ did? _But… he has to know. He has to know that these people he’s calling his friends are capable of… of something so horrible… If they’d do it to _me_, who knows what they might do to someone else?_

_Kris has to _know. _He has to._

A quiet knock on the door made him jump, his stomach lurching up into his throat. Adam stared at the door for a moment, rigid with fear – before a soft voice soothed his suspicions, and he allowed himself to relax.

“Adam? It’s Kim. I have something for you, can you open the door, sweetie?”

Adam hesitated, but then rose from the bed and went to the door. He opened it, offering a weak attempt at a smile in response to hers, before turning and going back to sit on the bed again, his back against the headboard. She was carrying a tray with a glass of amber colored liquid and ice, and a little saucer with about a dozen saltine crackers, which she set down on the nightstand before sitting beside him on the edge of the bed.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said softly, hating the unbidden tremor in his voice. “I’m… I’m okay…”

“Don’t be silly, you have to eat _something_,” she insisted. “And if you can’t handle the sandwiches I made, well – ginger ale and crackers always do the trick when _I’m_ sick.”

“Th-thank you,” he murmured, not quite able to bring himself to meet her eyes.

She lingered there on the edge of the bed, and Adam began to feel a little awkward and uncertain. He could feel her eyes on him, could sense that instinctive _knowing_ that something more was there than met the eye, and he wanted nothing more than for her to get up and go away before she could figure it out – or find a way to get him to tell her.

He had thought it was a trick unique to his own mother – but now, he was beginning to wonder.

“I know it’s not any of my business, darlin’,”  Kim ventured at last, reaching out to rest a warm, soft hand on his wrist, “but… did something happen? Are you all right?”

The simple compassionate touch, in combination with the motherly concern in her voice, was nearly Adam’s undoing. His eyes welled with tears that he struggled to hold back, and he swallowed back the hard knot that rose in his throat, shaking his head in silent denial, as he did not trust himself to speak.

“Did someone… say something to you, Adam? Did you have a fight with the boys? You want me to go get Kris?”

“No,” Adam whispered automatically, shaking his head. “No, don’t…”

“Okay,” she quickly relented. “Not if you don’t want me to, but… but if something _did_ happen, Adam… well…” She shook her head slowly, pausing, before continuing in a cautious, thoughtful tone, “… even _good_ boys can be… cruel, sometimes, and… if someone _did_ say something to… to offend you, or…”

Adam shook his head, opening his mouth to protest, and she held up a gently halting hand.

“Kris would understand,” she stated firmly. “You know that, right? Kris would take your side.”

Adam looked up at her, startled, half-wondering if she had _actually_ read his thoughts. He was so stunned that he forgot about the tears he was holding back, but no longer really cared when he felt one slide down his cheek.

“They’re… they’re his friends…”

“So are you.” She cut him off, firm but compassionate. “Kris… he’s wise beyond his years, Adam. He’ll take the side of the right… no matter who’s wrong. All right?”

Adam considered her words, nodding slowly, staring down at their loosely joined hands. Kim Allen followed his gaze with a soft smile – that slowly faded into a worried frown. Adam looked at the spot where she was looking, and noticed with alarm that faint purple bruises were beginning to form on his arms and his wrists from where Cale and Charles had restrained him. Immediately self-conscious, he drew his hand away, nervously rubbing the wrist she’d touched and looking away, unwilling to make eye contact.

Kim was quiet for a moment before speaking again in a troubled, pointed tone.

“Adam… do you want me to go get Kris?”

Adam hesitated a moment, torn.

_He might not believe me, but… but he has to know. I can’t just leave him down there with them, and him not knowing what they’re capable of. And… she said he’d believe me, but… but she doesn’t_ know _what they_ did… _she couldn’t imagine how far they took it, and… and will _he _be able to imagine it? Will he_ believe _it?_

“O-okay,” he agreed at last, nodding slightly. “Please… go get Kris.”


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Kim closed the door behind her, Adam rose from the bed and hurriedly locked it again. He felt foolish and pathetic for doing so, knowing that Kris’s friends were a safe distance away in the basement, and that Kris was going to be on his way up to talk to him in just a few minutes…

_Kris is going to be up here to talk to me in just a few minutes._

_Shit._

Adam’s heart pounded as he paced the floor, his palms damp and shaky as he struggled to find the right words to explain to Kris what had happened.

_Kris, I hate to tell you this, but… your best friends that you grew up with your entire life and trust like _family_ are a bunch of homophobic assholes who held me down and tried to… no, not tried to, they_ did. _They…_ assaulted _me, and… Shit, I can’t say they assaulted me, that sounds like they freakin’ _raped _me or something, and… God, I can’t do this. What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to explain this in a way so that he’ll actually believe me?_

A soft knock on the door drew an abrupt halt to Adam’s panicked thoughts, and his stomach lurched with an overpowering wave of nausea. He was rooted to the spot where he stood, unable to force himself to go to the door and open it.

“Adam?” The familiar voice was slightly muffled through the door, but the concern was still clear in the tone. “Adam, it’s Kris.” He paused, hesitant, before adding cautiously, “Wanna let me in?”

_No. Not really. No, I just want to get out of here and never have to tell you about any of this, never have to face you again, just forget all of this ever happened…_

Adam wasn’t sure how he got to the door, but all too soon he found himself standing there, face-to-face with a very concerned Kris. His dark eyes were warm and worried, as he glanced past Adam into the room before meeting Adam’s gaze again, his brow creased in a troubled frown.

“What’s up, man?” he asked in a deceptively casual voice as Adam stepped back to allow him inside. “What’s going on? You okay?”

“Yes.” Adam closed his eyes an instant later, drawing in a shaky breath and shaking his head. “No. I… I don’t know.”

Adam pressed the heels of his hands against his eyelids, sinking down on the edge of the bed as the world reeled around him. He didn’t know how to answer Kris’s questions, and was panicked at the thought of how Kris might react, sick with shame at the idea of Kris’s _knowing_ what they’d done – what he hadn’t been able to stop them from doing. The slight brush of warm, calloused fingertips against his wrist caught him off guard, and Adam gasped, jerking his hand away and opening his eyes.

Kris flinched slightly, blinking in surprise and dismay at Adam’s reaction. “Adam, what…? It’s just _me_, okay?” Adam nodded, but Kris did not seem reassured. He was quiet a moment, and when he spoke again there was a sense of urgency underlying his gentle words. “Adam… come on, _talk_ to me…”

“I… I _want_ to…” Adam wasn’t sure until he’d spoken the words that he actually meant them. “It’s just… Kris, you have to believe me. Please, you have to believe me…”

“Of course,” Kris assured him without hesitation. “I believe you.”

Adam’s voice shook with impending panic as rushed, disjointed explanations poured from his lips, his eyes focused on the bedspread between them. “But… I have to tell you something that you’re not… not gonna like, and… it’s gonna sound really crazy, and you won’t… wanna believe it, and… you just have to believe me, Kris. I can’t tell you this if I don’t know you’re gonna believe me…”

“Adam.” Kris’s voice was steady, certain, and it drew Adam to silence. He barely dared to look up to meet Kris’s gaze, stunned by his casual shrug, and the easy trust he offered with his simple words. “I told you – I believe you.”

A weak, humorless smile touched Adam’s lips as he pointed out uncertainly, “Y-you… you don’t even know what I’m going to say yet. How can you know that you believe it?”

“I said I believe _you_,” Kris reminded him gently, venturing to touch his hand again, and this time Adam did not pull away. “I don’t _have_ to know what you’re going to say. I know _you_ – and I _trust_ you. So… I believe you, Adam. You can tell me anything.”

Adam swallowed hard, his eyes welling with grateful tears, his emotions drawn to the surface once more by Kris’s simple, compassionate touch. He found himself longing to pour out the entire horrible story, and yet unsure how to begin. He couldn’t help thinking how insane, how utterly impossible it would sound to Kris, who had been friends with these guys all his life.

“Mom said… maybe something happened with the guys?”

Kris’s cautious words were just the prompt that Adam needed. He nodded, biting his lower lip.

“Did they… _say_ something, or…? What happened?”

“They… they were just making fun at first.” Adam thought of the comments they’d made about his crush on Kris, and his face flamed with embarrassment. Those were not details he intended to share. “Just… teasing.”

“Yeah. They do that.”

Kris nodded, and Adam could hear the knowing smile in his voice – so he rushed on before Kris’s assumptions could make his nerve disappear.

“But then… it… wasn’t just teasing.” His voice trembled, his eyes averted as he struggled to find the right words. “They… started… calling me names, and…”

Adam could hear the frown in Kris’s voice. “What kind of…?”

“Faggot.” Adam’s voice hardened over the hateful word he’d heard countless times, but rarely spoken. “Queer.”

Kris’s soft, startled intake of breath made Adam look up at him uncertainly, afraid of what he might see in his friend’s expression. Kris looked bewildered and horrified, shaking his head slightly in confusion as if trying to make the words make sense.

“That… that doesn’t sound like them…”

Adam’s stomach lurched with panic. “You said you’d believe me…”

“I do.” Kris reached out to take Adam’s shaking hand, waiting until his friend met his gaze to nod slowly and continue with solemn certainty. “I believe you, Adam. I do, it’s just… this is… I didn’t expect…” He shook his head, dismissing his own misgivings with a wave of his hand as he quietly urged him, “Go on. Tell me what happened. What did you do?”

“I was… gonna leave the room, but… but they… grabbed me, and…” Adam’s mouth felt dry and thick, the words distorted and difficult as they struggle to escape his lips. “… w-wouldn’t let me. They… h-held me down…”

He paused a moment, half-expecting Kris to cut him off right there – but only silence met his words, and he couldn’t bring himself to look up to see how Kris was taking it. The silence was heavy and oppressive, and Adam stumbled over the rest of his story, halting words struggling to fill the silence.

“They… held me down and wouldn’t let me leave, and… c-covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream… and they were saying… horrible things, about… about me, and… and you, and… how I… sh-shouldn’t be your friend, and… how d-disgusting they think I am. I… I guess they thought it was… _funny_.” Adam’s eyes welled with bitter tears. “They… they were all laughing, and… and trying to outdo each other with their… _comments_… like it was… just a big joke.”

“God, Adam, I’m so sorry.”

Adam looked up, startled by Kris’s unexpected words. Despite the reassurances Kris had offered, Adam hadn’t expected to be believed so easily. There was sorrow and shock and outrage all mingled in Kris’s eyes, which shone with sympathetic tears, as he slid closer across the mattress and put a supportive arm around Adam’s shoulders. A fine tremor passed through Adam at the comforting contact, and he fought back the sob that rose in his throat as Kris put his arms around him and drew him close, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder for a few moments.

“I never thought they would… I mean… I’ve known those guys all my life, Adam, and… I guess we don’t know a lot of gay guys, so… so maybe I never would have had a… a _reason_ to know they were like that, you know? But… that should never have happened to you. I brought you here to my house, and introduced you to them, and they…” Adam felt Kris shake his head, momentarily at a loss, before repeating softly, “I’m just so sorry, Adam. I’m so, so sorry.”

Adam just clung to Kris for a few moments, taking comfort in the gentle embrace of his friend, unspeakably relieved at Kris’s ready acceptance of his story.

“Did… anything else happen, Adam?”

There was uncertainty in Kris’s gentle words, but also something knowing and suspicious. Adam’s heart sank as he realized that Kris had to know there was more to the story than a few cruel comments.  Adam had dealt with ignorance and prejudice all his life, and there was no way that what he had described so far could reduce him to such a shaken, emotional state. He had allowed himself to think for a few moments that he would get by without telling the whole story – but he should have known better.

_Kris knows me better than that…_

“Yeah…” Adam admitted, his voice hoarse and shaky. “They, um… they…” His face flamed with remembered humiliation, his eyes burning with tears as he closed them, unable to look at Kris or the room or anything as he struggled to finish. “… they… _Charles_… hit me, and… and…”

“He _hit_ you?” Kris’s voice was incredulous, with an undercurrent of quiet fury as he held Adam away from him for a moment, his eyes searching as they looked Adam up and down. “Where? Where did he hit you? Are you okay?”

Adam nodded, swallowing hard as he wordlessly lifted the hem of his t-shirt, crumpling it nervously between shaking fingers as he looked down at the dark bruise that had already formed low on his stomach where Charles had punched him. It was the least of the damage, really, as far as he was concerned – and that was why he had started with it, because it was the easiest to talk about; but as Adam lowered his shirt and prepared to go on, Kris was already on his feet and headed toward the door – his angrily stalking footsteps making his intentions clear.

“Kris? Kris, wait…”

Although the last thing Adam wanted was to face any of those guys again, he couldn’t let Kris face them, either – not alone, anyway, not now that he knew what they were capable of. Adam rose and followed after Kris down the stairs, never quite catching up to him as Kris strode through the house and to the basement door – unheeding of Adam’s worried protests.

“Kris, wait… are you sure…? Wait a second…”

Adam froze at the basement door, his mouth dry, his heart pounding in his ears as the violation he’d just endured came rushing back to fill his mind. He steeled himself for the confrontation he knew was only moments away, then made his way on trembling legs down the basement stairs – though he couldn’t bring himself to venture past them.

He made it downstairs just in time to see Kris stalk across the room to where his friends were playing their hunting game again, laughing and utterly oblivious to the pint-sized tornado headed in their direction – until Kris stopped directly in front of them, blocking the screen, and snatched the game controller from Charles’s hands.

“Kris, _dude_! What the _hell_?” Charles protested, trying to see around Kris to the screen while simultaneously reaching for the controller.

Kris dropped it to the floor, then drew back his fist to deliver a sharp punch to Charles’s face, without warning or explanation. Charles let out an indignant cry of pain, leaping to his feet as one hand flew to touch his now bleeding lower lip. Standing, he towered over Kris, and his clenched fist at his side trembled with rage. Kris’s much smaller size was probably the only thing holding Charles back from immediately retaliating – but Kris didn’t seem to care.

His dark eyes were narrowed in warning, his own fists ready to strike again if need be, and his voice was low and shaking with fury as he declared, “If you ever _touch_ him again… I’ll kill you.”


	5. Chapter 5

A moment of tense silence followed Kris’s declaration, as he stood there, glaring up at the much larger man he’d just challenged.

Charles was visibly trembling with rage, his fists clenched at his sides, barely restraining himself from striking back – and probably because, while the blow Kris had dealt him stung, a single blow from Charles in retaliation might have sent Kris to the hospital. John sat at the far end of the sofa, leaning forward in his seat, just the hint of an eager smirk tilting up the corner of his mouth – as if this was the most entertainment he’d had in a long while.

Cale had been sitting in the armchair next to the sofa, and slowly rose to his feet, holding out his hands in a placating gesture. “Kris…” His voice was soft, soothing. “Kris, man… what’s the problem? What are you talking about?”

“_Adam_!” Kris ground out, turning his furious glare on Cale. “What… what you jerks _did_ to him! What, were you just… waiting until my back was turned this whole time?”

The guys were silent for a long moment, meaningful glances passing between them as they seemed to be trying to decide how much Kris knew, and how best to respond to his accusations. At last, Cale spoke up for the group, his tone still calm and reassuring.

“We didn’t hurt him, Kris. We were just… just messing around. It was just a joke.”

When Kris did not respond, just glared at him in disbelief, Cale turned toward Adam, who was still standing at the foot of the stairs, one hand white-knuckled around the banister. Kris was disturbed to notice that while Adam was watching the confrontation across the room, he did not seem to want to make eye contact with any of them, his gaze hovering around the level of Kris’s chest and not venturing any higher. His face was pale, and his jaw was set with repressed emotion.

Cale took a step in Adam’s direction, shaking his head with an apologetic grimace. “Adam, you know we were just messing around, right? We didn’t _mean_ anything by it…”

Adam’s abrupt step backward as Cale advanced made Kris’s stomach drop. But as he backed away, Adam finally looked up to meet Cale’s eyes, his own glittering with something dark and almost feral. His voice was low and warning, though touched with a slight tremor, and it made the back of Kris’s neck tingle with apprehension.

“Don’t fucking _touch_ me.”

“You didn’t _hurt _him?” Kris gestured angrily toward Adam to make his point, as Cale froze in his tracks. “Then how did he get the _bruises_? And what the hell is _that_? He shouldn’t be _scared _of you!”

_Adam isn’t scared of _anything…

John let out a derisive scoffing sound, rolling his eyes toward Adam. “Someone should have told _him_ that while he was crying like a little pussy just because we…”

“_John_.”

Cale’s voice was sharp, warning, and brought the younger man to silence – but it was too late. Kris was staring between the two of them in horror as the implications of John’s words sunk in.

“Just because you what?” Kris demanded, turning away from Charles and closing the distance to stand in front of John. “Just because you _what_?”

“We were just messing with him,” John insisted, his voice trembling as he glanced uneasily around at the others. “Come on, Kris – guys get worse than that in the showers after gym class in high school!”

“John…”

This time, John was too shaken by Kris’s smoldering fury, inches away from him, to listen to Cale’s warning. “He’s a _fag_, Kris, you’d think it wouldn’t matter so much to him! They’re always screwing around with each other, anyway, and… hell, he shoves his dick in people’s faces _on stage_! You’d think he _wants_ people to see it, right?”

“John, _shut up_!” Cale snapped.

“No, let him talk!” Kris insisted, turning on Cale. “Let him tell me what the hell you _psychos did_ to my _friend_!”

“_We’re_ your friends!” Cale retorted, his anger and resentment finally slipping into his voice. “Kris, I’ve been your _best friend_ for as long as I can remember! And suddenly you’re going on Idol, and you’re not around anymore, and I never see you, and then… then you’re hanging out with this… this _freak_...”

“He is my _friend._” Kris cut him off, his voice low and seething. “And he is a guest in my house – and you guys wait until you’ve got him alone, and then… _assault_ him? After what you guys did, you have the _nerve_ to call _him_ a freak?” 

He shook his head, backing away from all three of them a few steps before turning and striding purposefully across the room to stand by the stairs, at Adam’s side. He gestured pointedly toward the stairs with one hand, his voice low and intent, leaving no room for doubt as to how strongly he meant his softly spoken words.

“Get out. Get out of my house, all of you.”

“Oh, you have _got _to be _kidding_ me!” Charles burst out, throwing up his hands in outrage. “You’re choosing _him_ over _us_?”

Kris hesitated for just a moment – not because there was any question in his mind as to where the wrong lay in this situation, but because there was a finality in the answer to Charles’s question that gave him pause. At his side, the soft hitch in Adam’s breath shook Kris out of his momentary silence, and there was no hesitation in his voice when he spoke, soft and sure.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

Adam let out a deep, shaky breath, and Kris reached out without turning to place a supportive hand on his shoulder as his friends stormed past them up the stairs, muttering curses and complaints as they went. As Cale passed Adam, his shoulder slammed hard into Adam’s, causing him to stumble slightly. Adam just braced himself, closing his eyes for a moment, visibly wrestling with his anger.

It was a battle he lost.

A moment later, he was on his way up the stairs after Kris’s friends, taking them two at a time. Kris followed quickly behind him, worried by the idea of Adam trying to take on all three of them, all by himself.

_Not that I make such a difference in those odds… but two against three is _slightly _less hopeless…_

The sight of his mother standing in the kitchen, watching in bewilderment as Charles, John, and Cale made their way angrily toward the door, actually gave Kris a little bit of relief. None of them – least of all Adam – was likely to start a fist fight in the middle of her kitchen – at least not in front of her.

_At least… that’s what you_ thought, he reminded himself, a queasy sensation rising up in his stomach. _You never would have thought they’d have… done whatever they did to Adam, either – but they did._

“Kris is gonna come to his senses sooner or later,” John informed Adam at the door with a vicious sneer. “So enjoy it while you can, but your cute little crush is never gonna happen, freak.”

Adam’s face reddened with mingled embarrassment and anger, but his tone was defiant and triumphant as he retorted, “I’m pretty sure ‘coming to his senses’ is what Kris just _did_. The last thing he needs is a bunch of two-faced liars like _you_ as friends…”

“We’ve been in Kris’s life for nearly twenty years, Adam,” Cale reminded him, eyes narrowed, his voice trembling with impotent fury. “He’s not gonna just throw that away. Sooner or later… we’ll see who he chooses when it finally dawns on him that all you want is to get into his pants…”

Adam squared his shoulders, his arms crossed over his chest, and the indignant retort on Kris’s lips died there as he found himself suppressing a smile. He recognized the expression on Adam’s face, and knew that his friends had underestimated Adam in at least one department.

“Seems to me that’s what _you_ want, too,” Adam pointed out with a raised brow and a smirk. “You’re acting like a jealous girlfriend. Guess I should have seen this coming.” He shrugged. “What’s wrong, I’m encroaching on your territory when you had him all claimed for yourself?”

Kris felt his face flush with embarrassment at the direction their conversation had taken; but it was nothing compared to the humiliation and fury on Cale’s face at Adam’s words, and Kris couldn’t help feeling a rush of pride for his friend.

_There we go…_ now _he’s back…_

Cale started toward Adam, his fist raised, incensed by his words – but Kris quickly stepped between them, and Cale uncertainly lowered his arm, his jaw clenched with frustration.

“I said get out,” Kris reminded him in a low, quiet tone of warning.

The others were already standing on the lawn outside Kris’s house, but Cale lingered just inside the doorway, unwilling to let it go. Kris did not move, and Cale did not back down, either – until Mrs. Allen’s voice broke the tense silence that had fallen.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I think you boys had better go on, now.” She paused, troubled eyes passing between the three parties remaining in her kitchen before she focused on Cale and added, “Something tells me that if I had to call the police to _make_ you go… that wouldn’t turn out so well for you.”

Cale stared at her for a moment, then past Kris at Adam again, indecision in his eyes – before finally backing down, lowering his fist.

“Fine,” he snarled, turning toward the door, then momentarily turning back again. “But this isn’t over, faggot!”

As he finally turned to go, Kris’s jaw dropped with disbelief and outrage, and he started to follow after him out onto the porch. Adam’s hand on his shoulder stopped him, and Kris watched in surprise as Adam moved past him through the doorway, stopping just outside it.

“Hey.”

Cale was still on the porch, about to go down the steps to the lawn, but he turned around to face Adam, his expression and tone hostile.

“_What_?”

Adam’s expression was surprisingly pleasant. “You’re right,” he amicably replied.

Then, without warning, he drew back his fist and slammed it into Cale’s face, sending him staggering backward and then tumbling gracelessly down the steps to land in a sore, groaning heap on the grass beyond them. Adam stepped slowly to the edge of the porch, staring down at him in satisfaction, a small smile forming on his lips.

“_Now_ it’s over,” he concluded, turning and going back into the house.

Only once the door was closed behind him did he allow himself to draw in a hiss of pain, shaking his throbbing hand a bit as he sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs.

“Ow.”

Kris couldn’t help grinning at Adam’s triumph, even as he reached carefully for the injured limb. “Let me see that…”

Adam flinched away from his touch, drawing in his breath sharply – and Kris froze, suddenly uncertain whether Adam’s reaction was due to pain – or something else. When he looked up to search Adam’s face, he found that Adam had abruptly closed himself off again, not meeting Kris’s eyes. Kris’s face softened with compassion as he reached out for Adam again, more slowly and carefully this time, his voice low and coaxing.

“Come here…”

Adam tensed, starting to pull away, as Kris gently but firmly persisted, moving in closer and putting his arms around him. Adam went rigid, and Kris could feel the trembling, taut resistance in his shoulders, but did not relent – just stood there, offering silent comfort. When Kris did not back off, Adam finally gave in, relaxing and resting his head against Kris’s chest with a shaky sigh.

Kris gently cupped the back of Adam’s head for a moment, soothing and encouraging. As his mom cautiously approached, a questioning look on her face, Kris spoke in a soft, level tone, meeting her eyes with a silent promise to answer her questions later.

“If they come back… don’t let ‘em in, okay?”

“Of course not,” she assured him in a slightly offended tone, one eyebrow raised dubiously. “Obviously.”

“Come on, Adam,” Kris urged his friend gently, backing off a bit and bowing his head, trying to catch Adam’s lowered gaze. “Let’s go see about that hand, okay?”

Adam’s gaze was faltering, glancing up at Kris before looking away again, still shying away from actual eye contact – but he nodded his agreement, bracing his good hand on the table to pull himself up onto his feet. He seemed suddenly exhausted, as if even that much effort was too much. Kris felt a rush of sympathy for his friend, and a protective rush of residual anger toward the former friends he’d just kicked out.

_Maybe I kicked them out too fast… but… no. Adam’s obviously not up for any more of a fight than he already had…_

_After all he’s been through…_

_But… what_ has _he been through?_

“Come on. Let’s go upstairs.”

Kris carefully took Adam’s good hand and led the way, his mind racing as he tried to think of the right words to coax the answers he needed from Adam.

_Somehow, I’ve got to get him to talk to me. I’ve got to get him to tell me what happened…_


	6. Chapter 6

Adam felt strangely numb, the tumult of his fears and questions having faded away into silence – as if his shell-shocked mind was simply too exhausted to process another thought. As he followed Kris up the stairs, the solid, steadying warmth of Kris’s hand clasped around his was reassuring – a physical reminder that the outcome he’d hoped for but not dared to believe might happen _had_ actually happened.

_Kris… chose me. Over his friends that he’s known all his life… over the guys he grew up with._

_He… he chose_ me.

Adam looked up at Kris at last, watching him in silent uncertainty, trying to gauge his thoughts and feelings as Kris quietly led the way through the bedroom door, and then into the bathroom just beyond it. When Kris turned to face him – dark eyes warm and liquid with concerned affection – the light in the room suddenly seemed too bright, and Adam found his gaze dropping once again to the floor, rather than to face the soft scrutiny on Kris’s face.

Kris didn’t object, just took Adam’s arms and gently steered him until he was leaning against the bathroom counter. Then, Kris reached into the cupboard opposite the sink and took out a soft, deep blue washcloth. He soaked it in warm water, wringing it out before reaching cautiously for Adam’s injured hand.

Immediately he drew in a sharp hiss of dismay. “You’re bleeding.” Adam could hear the disapproving frown in his friend’s voice. “I didn’t know you were bleeding.”

Adam stared down impassively at the red liquid now trickling from the torn skin across his knuckles, then shrugged, dismissive, his gaze re-focusing on Kris’s well-worn sneakers. “Must’ve cut it on his tooth.” He paused a moment before adding dryly, “But I guess I don’t mind so much, considering that tooth is probably somewhere in your front yard right now.”

Kris let out a little snort of laughter as he carefully pressed the cloth against the back of Adam’s hand. Adam winced slightly at the sting of the warm water against his knuckles, but relished the distraction from his thoughts. There were too many questions – both the ones that filled his mind, and the ones he knew Kris wanted to ask – and it helped to shut them out, to focus on the pain.

But he couldn’t completely distract himself from the conversation he knew Kris was going to insist that they have.

Adam’s nerves were on edge as he waited for Kris to bring it up – to ask him about the things his friends had said before he’d shown them the door. Adam had been relieved when Kris had taken his side, after only hearing about the least of his friends’ offenses against Adam, and had hoped that maybe he would get away with not telling the rest of it to anyone – ever. A quiet, rational voice in the back of his mind reminded him that it was not his fault, and that he’d done nothing wrong – but that didn’t make it any easier to think of talking about it.

It was just too humiliating.

“So…”

The cautious, guarded note in Kris’s voice made Adam’s stomach lurch, and he felt his brow break out in a cold sweat as his mouth went dry.

“… any other injuries I should know about? You know… while I’m playing doctor?”

Adam couldn’t even force a smile in response to Kris’s sly, teasingly suggestive words – because the edge in his voice, the subtle tone of _knowing_ there, made it clear that for all his attempts at lightness, Kris was not going to let this go until Adam had told him the truth about what had gone on in the basement. He shook his head, unable to bring himself to speak, as Kris laid aside the cloth and took out a roll of bandages and a tube of antibiotic cream.

Kris was quiet as he bandaged Adam’s hand, then allowed it to fall. Adam immediately caught his wrist in his other hand, nervously fidgeting, wishing that Kris was not unintentionally blocking the doorway back out into the rest of the house.

_Or maybe…_ not _unintentionally…_

“What about that bruise? I didn’t really see before, how bad is it…?”

Kris reached for the hem of Adam’s shirt, sliding it up with one hand – and Adam drew in a sharp breath, drawing away in alarm and pulling his shirt down again with trembling hands. Kris froze, and Adam felt his face grow hot with shame at his own reaction. It wasn’t _Kris’s_ fault – Adam knew that Kris would never do anything to hurt him – but the vulnerability and exposure he felt as even just his stomach was uncovered was enough to bring it all back, flooding his mind in an instant.

_Strong hands holding him down, silencing him, making him helpless, as his clothes were rudely unfastened and pulled aside, and his body was cruelly manhandled and mocked…_

Adam shuddered, trying to shut it out and focus on _now_, instead of the frightening memories he didn’t think he’d ever quite be able to shake.

Then, he looked up to see the expression on Kris’s face – and found himself wondering if “now” was really all that much better.

“God, Adam,” Kris whispered, his voice hushed with the horror of growing understanding. “What did they _do_ to you?”

Adam opened his mouth to answer, though he wasn’t sure what he was going to say – but before he knew it, the capacity for words was lost to him, his shoulders trembling with the repressed shock of what he’d been through, as it all came flooding to the surface. He lowered his head, attempting to steady it with his good hand – but it was shaking too hard. Kris immediately moved forward, putting his arms around Adam – but Adam instinctively flinched away, his heart lurching with momentary panic.

Instantly Kris drew  back, holding up his hands in front of him, non-threatening. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, Adam, I just… wasn’t thinking…”

The words were cut off as Adam abruptly reached out and pulled Kris close to him again, abruptly enough to pull him off balance. Wrapping his arms around him, Adam buried his face against Kris’s shoulder, holding on for dear life. He knew that he was holding him just this side of a little too tight, but despite his instinctive reaction, he desperately _needed_ the reassurance and comfort Kris was offering. Regardless of the admittedly mixed signals he was sending, the _last_ thing he wanted was for Kris to back off.

And Kris didn’t. His arms were slow and cautious, but steady and reassuring, as he wrapped them around Adam and held him close. “I’m sorry,” Kris repeated, his voice hushed, filled with regret, and Adam knew that he was no longer talking about startling him. “Adam, I’m so sorry…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Adam insisted in a hoarse whisper, shaking his head against Kris’s shoulder. “You didn’t know. I… I just thought… I didn’t think they would…” He raised red-rimmed eyes to meet Kris’s troubled gaze, swallowing hard before concluding, “I… _trusted_ them. I shouldn’t have, don’t know why I did, but…”

“You trusted them because _I_ trusted them.” Kris’s voice was low and dark, trembling with anger, though Adam couldn’t tell whether it was directed toward the false friends he’d just rejected, or toward himself – or possibly both. “This _is_ my fault, Adam. It’s my poor judgment that let this happen. I trusted them with you, and I left you alone with them, and if I had known… or, _sensed_, or… _something_…”

“You couldn’t have known…”

“I’ve known them all my life, Adam. More than twenty years.” Kris met Adam’s gaze, regret mingled with unmistakable certainty in his eyes. “In all that time, I should have picked up on something. I should have seen something in them… should have known better than to leave you on your own…”

“I’m a big boy, Kris,” Adam sighed, rolling his eyes, as much at himself and the obvious irony of his own words as at Kris’s protective reaction. “I can take care of myself. You know… except… when I can’t. Anyway, you shouldn’t have to look after me. I should be able to… to…” His voice trailed off, and he averted his gaze once more, his face flushing with self-conscious shame.

“There were _three_ of them, Adam. Against one of you. And they… they…” Kris frowned, hesitating a moment before venturing softly, “Well… what _did_ they do… exactly?”

Adam didn’t answer, just shook his head slightly, and hoped that Kris would let it go – but he knew him well enough to know that wasn’t going to happen. Kris cautiously reached out to take his hand and led him out of the bathroom and back to the bed, sitting down and gently tugging Adam down beside him so that they were sitting face to face.

“Come on,” he urged him quietly, squeezing his hand reassuringly. “Talk to me, Adam. What happened?”

“Nothing, really,” Adam insisted, but there was a dangerous quiver in his voice, and he had to turn his face away, blinking back the hot tears that rushed unbidden to his eyes. “I mean… they _said_ stuff, and… and _started_ to… but they didn’t. Really, it wasn’t… wasn’t anything. It’s not as if they actually…” The words caught in his throat, and he tried again. “They just w-wanted to… to scare me, I think. I mean… they weren’t really going to… to…”

Kris’s utter silence, the way his hand had gone still around Adam’s, made Adam’s words trail off. He was afraid to look, afraid of the disgust he expected to see on Kris’s face. When Kris’s free hand firmly cupped his cheek, turning his face upward and silently demanding eye contact, Adam forced himself to comply, despite the dread he felt.

He saw every bit of the disgust he’d imagined in Kris’s expression – as well as a quiet, mounting horror. Kris’s voice was hoarse, filled with quiet urgency, when at last he broke the weighted silence that had fallen between them.

“Weren’t going to _what_, Adam? _Tell me_.”

Adam swallowed hard, his mouth dry, his hands trembling as his eyes once more sought the floor. “I… they… they h-held me down, and… and they… said they… wanted to…” His breath caught in his throat, and he closed his eyes, forcing the rest of his words out in a rush. “… s-see if the rumors were true.”

“Rumors?” Adam could hear the frown in Kris’s voice, as he shook his head in confusion. “What rumors?” Then, an instant later, understanding seemed to dawn, and Kris added in a hushed, appalled whisper, “_Oh_.”

“When I tried to… to fight them off, they… j-just held me down harder and… and hit me.”

“God, I shouldn’t have kicked them out so fast,” Kris seethed, glaring toward the door. “I should have knocked the crap out of them first…”

“I hit them, too, though.” There was a certain measure of pride in Adam’s trembling voice as he looked up at Kris at last, his eyes glittering with tears and fury. “I got a couple of blows in. And I… I spit in John’s face.”

“Good.” Kris’s voice was dangerously low and intent, his eyes narrowed with rage. “They deserved a lot worse.”

“That’s when he… they made me get on my knees.”

Adam’s voice was hushed, barely audible, but it instantly brought Kris to silence. Adam could feel Kris’s shock and outrage, and felt a sick sensation of shame creeping down his spine, but he couldn’t seem to stop talking now that he’d started. He had to get it all out while he still had the strength of will to do so. He couldn’t look at Kris as he finished his story, the words tumbling from his lips in a trembling rush.

“He… he was unbuckling his belt when… when your mom started to come downstairs. They let me go before she could catch them, and I got upstairs as quick as I could. But… he probably wasn’t going to… to _really_… I mean…”

“Adam.” Kris’s hand came to rest on Adam’s again, stilling his stammering reassurances. “It doesn’t matter.” When Adam gave him a sharp, startled look, Kris quickly amended, “I mean, it _does_ matter. Of _course _it matters, but… whether they were serious, or just trying to scare you, it doesn’t make any difference in my decision. Even if he _was_ just trying to freak you out – that’s too much crazy for me, right there. Seriously, they’re a bunch of sociopaths. I don’t know how I didn’t see it…”

Adam opened his mouth to defend Kris again, ready to offer reassurances as to how Kris had been too close to see what he didn’t want to see in his friends – but Kris was already talking again, and his dark eyes were warm and reassuring as he met Adam’s uncertain gaze.

“They hurt you, Adam. That’s all I need to know to know that I never want anything to do with them again.” Kris paused, thinking for a moment before continuing firmly, “And… however you want to handle this… if you want to press charges… or if you don’t, either way… I’ll back you up. I’ll testify, whatever. Whatever you need.”

Adam was touched by the offer, though he didn’t think he wanted to go through the additional – and far more public – humiliation of a trial. Still, it meant a lot to know that Kris would support him if that was what he wanted to do. Despite the unmistakable conviction in Kris’s words, however, Adam could see the sadness in Kris’s eyes, and felt an irrational sense of guilt at the thought of what Kris had lost – even if he’d only really lost the illusion of who he’d _thought_ his friends were. The words fell from Adam’s lips with full sincerity.

“I’m so sorry, Kris.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Kris insisted, shaking his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know.” Adam met Kris’s gaze, unfaltering, with a quiet nod. “I still am.”

“I’m the one who should be sorry,” Kris continued. “I let you down. I invited you here as my guest – my _friend_ – and you trusted me that you would be safe here. ..”

“You’re my friend, yeah, but… it’s not your job to protect me, Kris.” Adam looked away, feeling self-conscious. “I should be able to…”

“No.” Kris’s voice was sharp, and Adam flinched slightly. Kris immediately softened his tone, as he repeated, “No… you are _not_ going to go there, Adam. Nothing about this was your fault.”

“I could have… fought harder. Yelled for help. _Something_,” Adam insisted, shaking his head as fresh tears welled in his eyes. “They told me to keep quiet… threatened to hurt me if I didn’t, and… and I just… _did_. They had their h-hands… a-all over me, and I… I just…”

“Adam, no,” Kris whispered, instinctively reaching to pull Adam into his arms, and this time Adam gratefully accepted the offer of comfort. “Shhh, no… you were outnumbered and overpowered. You did what anybody would have done. You did the _right_ thing, okay?”

Adam shook his head, not accepting that for a moment, but Kris went on before he could object. “If they would gang up on someone like that… hit them and pin them down and… and _violate_ them like that… then… who knows what else they’re capable of?” Adam felt the shudder that passed through Kris’s body at that thought, and found himself instinctively nestling closer to his friend. “No… the best thing you could have done was to do what they said and keep them from… from doing anything worse.”

Adam felt Kris’s arms wrap a little tighter around him, felt the trembling tension in his embrace, and was both reassured and troubled by Kris’s obvious dismay at the thought of what his friends might have done, had they been allowed to carry through with what they’d started.

“I shouldn’t have left you there,” Kris whispered, and Adam could feel the soft warmth of his breath against his skin as he spoke. “I should have been there with you, the whole time.”

Adam bristled slightly, his sense of independence offended by the suggestion of weakness. “I don’t need a babysitter…”

“I’m not talking about babysitting you, I’m talking about _protecting_ you…”

“I should be able to protect _myself_,” Adam stubbornly insisted. “You’re my friend, Kris, yeah, but… looking after me, making sure I’m safe… that’s not your job…”

“Well, maybe I _want _it to be my job.”

Adam froze for a moment, taking a moment to process what Kris had said. After a moment he slowly looked up again, his eyes wide and startled. “W-what?”

“Maybe… I wanna be _more_ than just your friend.”

Adam’s stomach lurched, and he studied Kris’s face, trying to read him – but his expression was inscrutable. Adam didn’t know what to think. He knew that Kris – and everyone else – knew about the crush he’d had on Kris since Idol; but no one knew that it was actually a little more than a crush.

_Except his ‘friends’. They apparently picked up on it right away. And if they did, then… maybe he did, too, and just never said anything._ Adam felt sick, his face coloring with embarrassment. _ If he’s just making fun of me… _

After a moment he found his voice and replied, his voice low and guarded. “That’s not funny, Kris.”

“Maybe that’s because I’m not joking.”

Adam’s tone didn’t change, but there was a slight edge of warning to his words as he shot back, “_Maybe_ you should stop using the word ‘maybe’, because I kinda need a little more than that to go on right now.”

Kris shifted a little closer to Adam, tugging on his hand until Adam reluctantly faced him. His eyes widened when he found himself face to face with Kris, inches away from solemn, honest eyes that seemed to will him to believe.

“I like you,” Kris stated simply. “And… I know my timing sucks…”

“_Yeah_, it does,” Adam agreed in a hoarse whisper – but the words were a little breathless, and he found his gaze gravitating away from Kris’s eyes and toward his lips.

“But… when I think of those guys… laying a _hand_ on you… I just… I can’t…”

“Then don’t think about it,” Adam cut him off softly. “And… don’t let _me_ think about it, either.”

Kris needed no further encouragement to cross the invisible line between them, closing the distance and softly pressing his mouth to Adam’s, as his hand slid up Adam’s wrist to rest on his shoulder, trembling and tentative. It was confirmation that Kris was serious, that he wasn’t just messing with him – and it was all Adam needed to know.

Kris let out a startled gasp as Adam grabbed his arms and pushed him back on the bed, deepening the kiss as his hands drifted lower, trailing over Kris’s torso, then his hips, with desperate need in his trembling touch.

“Make me forget,” he whispered before pressing a soft, needy kiss against Kris’s shoulder. “Make me forget…”

“I will,” Kris promised, bowing his head to capture Adam’s mouth once more, his arms wrapping around him and drawing him in closer. As their eyes met once more, Kris gave him a warm, encouraging smile full of promise and certainty. “We’ll make something else to remember.”


End file.
